


Play With Fire

by EchoNettle



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Light Dom/sub, Love/Hate, Pre-Canon, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26098159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoNettle/pseuds/EchoNettle
Summary: After the murder of your parents, you avenged their deaths with the help of a certain Kenny the Ripper. You became an assassin in the underground but escaped and joined the Survey Corps in an attempt of living a new life and absolving your sins. However, you can never run away from the past especially as Captain Levi seems to be able to see right through your act. Also antics with Squad Levi and Nifa.
Relationships: Eld Jinn/Reader, Levi & Reader, Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Original Female Character(s), Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Reader, Levi/Reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	1. Insane Inside

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a music video edit of Levi to the song Play With Fire (lmao) and Kill Bill. Haven't written fanfiction since high school so apologies if I'm a bit rusty. I put trigger warnings in for chapter one where implied attempted non-con occurs.

3 years, 36 days, 7 hours ago was exactly when your life changed forever. They say time heals all wounds, but for you it seemed the scars of dread in your chest would haunt you for the rest of your life.

\----------------------------

“Mina, dinner time!”, your mom called out to you and your dad practicing sparring outside. You both looked at each other and giggled. “Coming mom! Right after I beat dad’s ass!”, earning you a smack on the back of your head from your dad. “Oi kid, don’t cuss in front of your mother. She’s not gonna like the shit I teach you”. Your mom could only sigh and shake her head in resignation, ‘like father, like daughter’, she thought to herself. 

You liked to think you had a fairly happy childhood, your parents were your biggest support. Your dad had owned a local shop in your Eastern town, while your mom helped raise you. Unfortunately, something you had realized as you entered your teens was the injustices your family would have to face in society for being different. The shop would get robbed frequently and other kids would call you and your parents insults that you didn’t even understand, but knew that were meant to hurt you. You let it roll off your back, your dad always had told you, ‘it only reflected the hate in their hearts, don’t let it poison your heart.’ It was only when neighbourhood bullies escalated to violence that your dad, at first reluctantly, began to teach you how to fight and defend yourself. As you had always been at least head shorter than most, his techniques revolved around utilizing the enemy’s larger weight and size against them.

You snapped back to reality when your dad lovingly petted your head, “Let’s go back in kid before dinner gets cold and your mom ends up kicking my ass too.” You giggled again and happily ran inside, blissfully unaware of the two figures lurking outside your home. 

Once you stepped inside, you instantly felt your blood run cold. Frozen in spot, your eyes widened in shock. A man was holding a knife to your mom’s throat. It seems he hadn’t noticed your presence yet, you couldn’t move from your spot, it felt like molasses had dragged your whole body down forcing you to be still. Your mom’s eyes were welling up with tears when she saw you, “Go hide”, she mouthed the words at you. Your flight or fight instincts had kicked in and you ran to duck under your parents’ bed. You shut your eyes close in fear, hearing swearing and loud clanging noises of objects being thrown. ‘No way’... you forced your eyes open to watch lying underneath your parents’ bed. 

Your dad was fighting back against the man that held your mom hostage… all while you hid like a coward. It seemed like he was gaining the upper hand until you noticed two men come in through the door for backup, you silently screamed, clamping a hand over your own mouth. It happened too fast for you to register, one of the men had gotten hold of your mom again and tossed her onto the bed, the one you were hiding under. Your eyes widened in horror as you heard her scream, assuming one of them was holding her down. 

Meanwhile, it was two against one against your dad. While he was a great fighter, he was overpowered and you felt bile rise to your throat when you heard it. BANG! There was only thing you knew could’ve happened as you saw the limp body of your dad fall to the ground. He turned his head to face you, his own eyes widening slightly as he clutched the bloody wound in his stomach. As he lay dying, with tears running down your face, blinding your vision, you were barely able to make out what would be his last words, “live, keep fightin-” in a whisper so quiet amid the screams and sounds of metal clashing, you knew he was talking to you. 

“Ahh, fuck that bitch bit me!”, one of the assailants screamed. Another gunshot rang out, blood began to seep under the bed, some splattering on you. Again, you had to close your hand to muffle your screams. You were so shocked that you thought even if you did, no sound would’ve come out anyways. 

“Fuck why’d you hit me!” 

“Dumbass why did you kill her? You always get carried away!” 

“Why does it matter! The instructions were dead or alive, sorry you couldn’t get your dick wet but I’m only here to get the job done and get my cash asshole!”

A third voice chimed in, “No matter now. We got the job done, you two head back and I’ll handle the cleanup.” “Yes sir!”, the other two men called out. You sighed in relief hearing footsteps leaving, but immediately regretted it as your saw boots walk towards your hiding spot. “Well well well, it seems I have one more pest to exterminate, don’t I?” The man reached under the bed and dragged you out, your eyes widening in horror. “What a beautiful expression”, he growled as he threw you onto the ground. 

\----------*Implied attempted non-con Trigger warning*------------

You tried to fight back, trying to recall everything your dad had taught you, but it was no use. The man had both your wrists pinned down, his feet locking your own legs down. “A bit young for my taste, but your pretty face will do just fine. You know I have to kill you after this, but we may as well both have some fun before I blow your brains out”, he chuckled lowly. Chills ran down your spine as you thought you looked into the face of satan itself. You flailed and screamed as the evil incarnate had only laughed above you. “That’s not going to help you much sweetheart, I have a thing for when a pretty girl screams.”

\----------*Trigger warning end*--------------

The man let his guard down, thinking that you had been beaten down enough to where you wouldn’t fight back. 

He was wrong. 

As you felt his weight lighten from above you, you took the opportunity to hook your foot behind his legs and roll so you were on top of him. Before the chance escaped, you quickly reached to his side where a gun had been. Your heart was pounding so loud it drowned out whatever the man underneath you was trying to say, all you could see was red. Seething with rage at the atrocities you endured and witnessed, you committed an act that marked the end of your childhood, your innocence forever. 

With shaking hands you held the gun and pointed it toward the middle of his forehead. Before you even realized it, your fingers pressed against the trigger. BANG! Blood spattered across your face, the sound of your heart pounding was replaced with ringing in your ears. As if you were under a spell, you immediately looked down and saw a man, the first man you killed. Horrified, you dropped the gun onto him and rushed off. Kneeling on the ground you desperately tried to wipe the blood on your face off, blood began caking and drying onto your fingers, which you began peeling off so hard it felt like you were peeling skin.

You looked back at the man, just noticing he was wearing a military uniform. The unicorn insignia on the side let you know it was someone from the military police. Gasping, you tried to crawl out of what you once called your home, not making it out as another man was leaning against the doorway. It wasn’t any of the three men from before, he was tall, intimidating, had rough stubble, and wore a cowboy hat. His casual posture juxtaposed the bloody crime scene behind you. 

“Tch, to think a little girl stole my job”, he tossed a bundle of cash towards you. “Not bad for a kid though. There, that’s half since you got your hands dirty for me, I’ll take the other half and the credit if you don’t mind”, he cackled. He kneeled down to your level, his friendly gesture was the opposite of the deadly look in his eyes. 

“Listen, I’m only doing this since you remind me of another runt I know. There’s a bar in the underground, you’ll know when you see it, tell them Kenny sent you, it’s the only way you can make it out of this alive kid.” You stared back at Kenny dumbfounded, mouth gaping open. He continued, “Another piece of advice, never trap yourself in a corner like this, a rat like you will only end up getting killed from above.” 

Kenny got up brushing the dirt off his pants, he turned and stalked off, pausing after a couple steps, and turned his head back to glare at you. “But just know the next time you get in my way, I will kill you”, he smirked and stalked off.

Once you would come to your wits, you would later find out that your ‘saviour’ was none other than ‘Kenny the Ripper’, notorious serial killer alleged to have murdered over 100 military police. 

You’re not even sure how you did it yourself, but somehow in your daze you managed to find the bar Kenny spoke of and never came across him again.

Three years later, you would become known as the ‘black widow’, one of the best assassins in the underground.

\---------------------------------

You were laying on the roof of some building in the underground, silently counting how much cash you got for the job you just finished. Satisfied you weren’t short-changed, you shoved the bills in your pocket.

You sighed and started picking underneath your nails, a habit that never left you, the feeling of blood was there forever. Clenching your hands into fists so they would stop shaking, you couldn’t help but feel the guilt wash over you again. You told yourself countless times, ‘it was for survival’, ‘they were bad people’, while true it didn’t stop the fact that you were no better than any murderer, worse even, killing for money.

After the murder of your parents, you trained relentlessly in the underground with the help of other orphans and other poor souls who were forgotten to rot underneath the earth. You tracked down the other two military police officers involved with the death of your parents, and killed them both with a single slash of a knife. You’ve avenged their deaths, but at the cost of sinking to their level, the one thing your dad warned you against.

Sighing, you looked up at where the sky would be, replaced by rocky terrain. When you first arrived underground you heard that three renowned thugs had been forced into the Survey Corps. Everyone assumed they had already been killed off by the titans, you’re not sure why but hearing about the Survey Corps had given you a bit of hope again. The hope that you could somehow go back to living an honourable life.

You were finally of legal age, and actually had surface citizenship, unsure of whether your dad predicted something like this would happen, he changed your last name from Azumabito to Reader, for at least a chance of protection. It was a crazy plan, but you would join the Survey Corps and hope you could hide your assassin past. Besides, your town was later wiped out by titans and the lack of records and chaos could perfectly cover-up your spotty disappearance from the surface. 

Climbing down the building you slid into the bar, taking a seat next to an older blonde woman who became a quasi-mentor. “So you’re really going to do it?” Hope said, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, they’re taking applications tonight. I’m sorry Hope but this is probably the last time we’ll ever see each other.” Hope rolled her eyes, “dramatic as always, but seriously I’m happy for you, at least one of us can escape this hellhole. Though, I’ll miss you being my bodyguard for unruly ‘customers’”. 

You chuckled at her comment, “I think we learned all we could from each other, you’re almost better at fighting than me, and thanks to your endless patience I can somewhat seduce a target.” Hope wrinkled her nose at you, “Please don’t refer to men as ‘targets’”. You winced, “Sorry, drinks on me?” “You already know”.

The next couple hours flew by, laughing and trying to absorb the last company of the only friend you had. “I’ve gotta get back to the brothel”, Hope winked at you, “my break ran a biiit too long”. She reached in for a hug, you tightened your arms around her. “Live well Mina”, she whispered in your ear, “Then I can go on, you give me”, she paused slightly, “hope.”

You groaned at her bad pun as she giggled, “Hah, get it?”

You replied in a monotone voice, “I get it Hope, you’re really making me leaving you easy huh?” She winked at you again as she got up to leave, “I guess this is goodbye friend.” Tears started to well at your eyes, she really knew you too well.


	2. Got secrets I can’t tell

“Listen up maggots!”, the intimidating bald man yelled down at the rows of cadets lined up in front of him, “We’re going to turn you from the weak filth you are to respectable soldiers!”. He was Keith Shadis, the officer in charge of training the 103rd cadet corps, the one that you had been accepted into.

You rolled your eyes, it’d take a lot more than that to intimidate you. You looked at the girl next to you, a cute red-head about your height who was visibly shaking like a leaf. Quirking an eyebrow at her you whispered, “are you okay?” 

Her head snapped up to look at you, “Y-yeah, good, a little nervous. I-I’m P-petra”, she admitted. You attempted a smile that you hoped looked comforting, “I’m Mina, don’t let it get to you, they’re just trying to catch you off guard so you’ll slip up”, as you finished that sentence, you hadn’t noticed that Keith had caught wind of your conversation and got right into Petra’s face.

“What’s the yapping about ladies? If you came here to talk I suggest you head back to the salon, you’ll only end up as dog food here”, he growled at Petra. You narrowed your eyes at him, seeing Petra try to keep from crying, “Sorry baldy, no need to get so jealous that you can’t join girl talk. Come back once you learned oral hygiene,” you spat back at him. 

Keith instantly turned his attention to you, eyes burning with rage, “Laps cadet! You two ladies can yap all you want while you run until you pass out!”

The sun was beginning to set, you glanced at Petra running next to you, “Sorry Petra, I wouldn’t have said anything if I thought he’d punish you too.”

She shook her head, “No, don’t apologize, it was actually kinda cool you stood up for me,” she laughed. “Where are you from? I used to live with my parents near Wall Rose.”

You gulped, unsure of how to answer, “Umm I lost my parents young, so I moved around a lot”, hoping that would be enough for her to drop the subject.

Petra’s eyes widened, “I-I’m so sorry I didn’t know.” You waved it off, “No worries, how would have you known?”, smiling a tight smile.

A couple laps later when it was completely dark, you both collapsed on the track. Your eyes both met each other and you both burst out laughing, “You know, I feel kinda bad for saying this but this was way more bearable running with you as company”, Petra said. You agreed with her. 

Suddenly a hand reached down to help you up, you glanced up and it was a tall blonde man, with his hair tied back. He smiled down at you, “Name’s Eld, a couple of us felt bad for you guys, we saved you two some rations.”

You reluctantly accepted his help, Eld helped Petra up as well. “Oh thanks, that’s really nice of you”, you replied suspiciously, not used to kindness from strangers. He brushed off your comment ignoring the suspicious tone, “We’re all cadets, we need to stick together.” 

He led you both to the porch in front of one of the barracks. He pointed to a man with a crew cut, “That’s Gunther,” another man with an annoyingly arrogant look on his face, “Oluo”, and a woman with short auburn hair and bangs, “Nifa”. 

“I’m Petra, this is Mina”, Petra waved, taking the lead as she noticed you stepped back to analyze each person. You tried to wave the natural suspicion you had with strangers off, you were in the cadet corps afterall, your past was a secret here. “Thanks again for the food guys”, was your attempt at socializing back.

“It was out of the kindness of our hearts, next time I’ll let you starve,” Oluo replied. Eld jabbed him with his elbow, causing you to laugh. You smiled at him and Eld looked relieved that you seemed to no longer be treating him with hostility.

Training went fast with the friends you made in the 103rd cadet corps. It was refreshing to have a group of friends, you haven’t had the luxury since childhood. You observed that Eld was a natural leader, Gunther was on the quiet side but had a calming presence, Petra was like the mom of the group, Nifa gladly played along with your schemes, and Oluo was pompous but meant no harm, and to your entertainment was terrible at flirting as you watched every attempt to get close to Petra fly over her head. You snickered at the dinner table, turning to Nifa, “you think she’ll ever figure it out?” 

Nifa turned to look in their direction, she chuckled, “Doubt it, how’s he gonna let her know when Oluo can barely speak without biting on his tongue”. You doubled over in laughter at Nifa’s verbal jab, her face scrunched up with laughter as well. 

Eld came up behind you two, putting his arms around each of your shoulders. “Play nice girls, not every guy can be as charming as me.” You rolled your eyes at him, “Riight Eld, because when you fell on your ass in 3d gear training it was sooo charming”, you replied sarcastically. He clucked his tongue at you and took a seat across from Gunther. 

Nifa turned to you with a mischievous glint in her eye, “Speaking of, when are you gonna hook up with Eld?” You playfully glared at her, while Eld was a stand up guy, there was a lack of chemistry. The bantering between you two was definitely more on the platonic side and based on the adult magazines you had once found hidden under his bed, you weren’t his type either.

You scrunched your nose at her, “Gross Nifa, he’s like my brother. Besides, we’re not each others’ type.” She rolled her eyes at you, “So what even is your type? I think you don’t like men in general.”

You smiled in amusement, “You’re not completely wrong. Hmmm I don’t know, never given much thought to it”, you saw Nifa’s unimpressed look and knew it’d take more to appease her. “Fine, I guess I like dark hair? Eld’s way too tall for me, but I don’t really care about height anyways. I mean, it’s more about the feeling they give off, like stoic and protective?”, you sighed. 

Nifa lightly shoved your shoulder, “Hopeless, this is why I talk boys with Petra and not you.” You laughed, “It’s probably for the best.”

Before you knew, your years of training was almost over. It was the last night before the ceremony where each division would give their speeches. Only the top ten would be able to join the military police. 

You silently seethed with rage every time you thought about the corruption in the military police that cost your parents’ lives. 

As a sort of final hurrah of mischief, Oluo suggested taking Keith’s notebook to find what comments he wrote about us that would be sent to the Commanders. The six of you were huddled behind one of the barracks when Oluo brought the idea up. Eld immediately rejected it saying it wasn’t worth the risk. Petra, the classic goody two shoes was against it as well.

“Oluo, you finally had a good idea for once.” Your comment shocked the rest of your friends as they turned to look at you. “You’re not serious Mina?”, Petra asked, fear evident in her voice. 

“What’s the issue?”, you defended, “It’s not like we’re changing our reports, it’s getting intel. Besides, we’re only reading what he wrote about ourselves, it’s only fair, not like we’re invading anyone else’s privacy”, you shrugged.

Eld shook his head, “Did you forget we’re invading Instructor Shadis’ privacy? I’m not getting punished on my last day of training.”

Nifa sighed and stared blankly into the sky, “I’m in.” You and Oluo both smiled at Nifa. You knew you could always count on Nifa to be your partner in crime. Gunther shrugged, “I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Eld and you looked into each others’ eyes, he knew he was weak when it came to you. “Fine, but if we get caught, Petra and I won’t bail you guys out again”, he sighed. Petra shrieked beside him, “Hey! I didn’t agree!”, as the five of you stared at Petra, she huffed in defeat, “not fair you guys, fine I’ll do it!”

Oluo smirked in relief, “Don’t worry guys, Shadis is still in his meeting with the other captains, no one is even going to be near his office.”

Everyone got off of the ground and headed towards his office. You crouched next to Eld by the steps to the cabin that was Shadis’ office. Oluo sauntered up to the door and turned the handle, “Shit, it’s locked!”.

You rolled your eyes, “Of course it would be dumbass! Move out the way.” You jutted your hip out to push him aside and picked the lock. This was a piece of cake, compared to the times you had to break in a lord’s mansion. You grimaced at the thought of your shameful past and pushed it to the back of your mind. 

“How do you even know how to pick lo- OW! Eld!”, Eld shoved Oluo glaring at him. They didn’t know much about your life before joining the cadets, but they knew enough to know it was a rough subject for you. 

“Shut up Oluo!”, Eld hissed. 

“Both of you quiet down, we’re going to get caught if you keep this up” Nifa whispered, ever the voice of reason.

You finished picking the lock and turned the handle. “Easy-peasy.” You adjusted your eyes to the darkness and noticed a small notebook on top of his desk. ‘Too easy’ you thought. Looking back at your friends still hiding by the steps, you quietly walked into the office and grabbed the notebook, tossing it to Oluo. 

“Read fast, so we all get a chance”. They nodded and each took turns reading Shadis’ comments about them. For the most part everyone looked pleased. You were the last one, Petra handing the notebook to you with shaking hands. 

You flipped the pages until you found your name. ‘Mina Reader - Top-class in weaponry, excellent in hand to hand combat against larger opponents, quick witted. Agile in maneuvering gear, but makes slow turns and takes unnecessary risks. Doesn’t follow orders, poor teamwork aside from a select few. Potentially dangerous?’

You raised an eyebrow at his last comment. ‘There’s no way he could’ve found out right?’ You felt a chill run down your back, his report was spot on if you were being honest with yourself. You knew it was wrong but you had to cover your own tracks, there’s no way the military would let a criminal within their ranks. Before you even realized it you found yourself trying to smudge away Shadis’ last comment. 

“Shit, scatter!”, you heard Eld whisper-yell. Your head whipped back to see all your friends running off in different directions, looking back realizing the only place to hide was in Shadis’ office. ‘Shit’, you thought to yourself, praying that whoever was walking by wasn’t the man himself. You ran into his office closing the door as quietly as you could. Quickly tossing the notebook back onto the desk, you decided to hide under the desk.

Just your luck, you heard footsteps coming up the stairs and someone turn the door handle. “It’s not like that old kook to leave his door unlocked,” you heard a gruff voice say to himself.

You closed your eyes and was relieved that whoever was outside at least wasn’t Keith Shadis. Your thought quickly changed when whoever was outside stepped into the office. 

“Shadis is getting old, who leaves their notes open on their desk”, the man grumbled to himself, “tch, his office is filthy too.”

The footsteps got closer and closer to you, your eyes widening in fear. The man grabbed the notebook and turned to leave. ‘Thank God’, you thought to yourself. You had thought too soon.

The footsteps returned and a hand reached under the desk to drag you out and back onto your feet.

You gasped shocked that he was even able to detect you. You looked up at the man and felt like dying on the spot right there. ‘Shit, of course out of all the people to catch you, it had to be humanity’s greatest soldier, Captain Levi.

Levi had been asked by Erwin to get Shadis’ notebook from his office that he had forgotten to bring to the commanders’ meeting. He rolled his eyes, “I’m not your errand boy”, as he turned to head towards the cabin.

Erwin smiled at his retreating figure, being one of the rare few who could read Levi like an open book.

Levi’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as he heard the sound of running all around the office. ‘Probably just wild animals’, he chalked his suspicions to. He thought it was strange that the office was unlocked, considering Officer Shadis wasn’t the type to slip up like that.

Levi grabbed the notebook and turned to leave pausing as his suspicions peaked. He couldn’t shake the feeling of a presence.

‘Whatever, I’ll check anyways, probably just lack of sleep’, he thought to himself as he looked under the desk only to have his suspicions confirmed. A girl was crouching under the desk, he smirked at his instincts being right once again and dragged the girl out.

You saluted, “Captain Levi!”. 

“At ease”, he replied with the slightest hint of amusement in his tone. If you hadn’t been so experienced at reading faces you would’ve missed the slight upward quirk of his lips. 

You couldn’t help but admire his beauty under the moonlight that shone through the windows. His facial features were like that of a fallen angel, he had a sharp jawline that would make the gods jealous, and steely gray-blue eyes that appeared to be able to look right into your soul. He was short but his body was clearly fit and well-proportioned, even through his uniform, and the aura he emitted was so commanding anyone would forget his height, or lack thereof. He was even more attractive than the gossip you heard about him from the other cadets.

“So brat, you going to keep staring or you’re going to tell me why you’re trespassing in your Superior’s office?”, he sneered cruelly.

Instantly regretting the thoughts you had admiring how attractive the Captain was, you likened him more to a demon than a fallen angel. 

You began to feel panic prick at you and you stammered out the first thing you could think of, “I-I had to take a dump, thought this was the toilets”, you cursed yourself internally at that stupid reason being the only thing you could think of, and the fact that you said something so embarrassing to the Captain.

You winced at your own comment, feeling heat rush to your cheeks, trying to keep your cool and maintain eye contact, especially when Captain Levi was staring you down so menacingly. 

Levi chuckled lowly, so quiet, you weren’t even sure if it was just your imagination. “So why did you think that this would be the washroom? This clearly isn’t your first day Cadet, or are you that shit for brains?”

You clenched your teeth, he was clearly making fun of you, sadistically enjoying watching you try to worm your way out of the mess you got yourself into. 

“S-sorry sir, you must know how it is, it was an emergency, the door was unlocked, I couldn’t think straight and when I realized this wasn’t the washroom I got scared and hid under the desk….” 

You knew there was no way he’d buy your stupid story, you just prayed to whatever gods were out there that he’d just give you a punishment and not kick you out right then and there.

Levi raised an eyebrow at you and smirked, unable to hold back his amusement at your detriment. “I see, next time just go shit outside like the wild animal you are Cadet..?”

“Mina Reader, Sir.”

“You look more like a brat to me, get back to the barracks, now,” Levi began to leave the office, notebook in hand.

“Please don’t tell Instructor Shadis about this!”, you pleaded in a last ditch effort. 

“Shut up brat, I got my own secrets”, he said walking off without looking back.

You took that as him agreeing to keep finding you in Shadis’ office a secret, you were surprised but also grateful. ‘He must have figured my embarrassment was enough punishment, hopefully.’

You rushed back to the barracks and held your head in your hands in shame as you told Petra and Nifa what had happened.

Meanwhile, as Levi headed back to Erwin he flipped open Shadis’ notebook finding your name. He cocked an eyebrow reading your report, finding it to sound familiar to his own, then stopping at the last comment that appeared to be smudged. ‘This will be interesting...’


	3. I Light the Match to Taste the Heat

It was finally the day of the graduating ceremony. You bit your lip in irritation as throughout the day Eld, Oluo, and Nifa would spontaneously burst out in laughter after thinking about what happened to you yesterday.

You kicked Eld’s shin, “Shut up! It’s bad enough Captain Levi caught me, I don’t need you guys taunting me about it too!”

“Ouch!”, he rubbed his leg and pushed his face closer to you so others couldn’t eavesdrop, “Come on Mina, you have to admit you had it coming, you can’t always get away with everything.”

You grimaced knowing you had far more you had to get away with. Maybe dying early wouldn’t be so bad, you wouldn’t have to keep all your secrets for so long to your grave.

Suddenly you felt as though you were being watched, your eyes glanced around the field until you saw the demon himself, Levi, standing at the side of the stage, seemingly glaring right at you. 

Nifa smacked the back of Eld’s and your head, “Quit flirting! Commander Erwin is going to give his speech soon!” Eld rubbed his head to soothe the pain but also to hide the flush on his cheeks.

Your friends had all made it into the top ten, Eld taking the number one spot, while you managed to take the second spot. All of you knew you had the chance to join the military police but between the deep conversations you all would have late at night, sneaking around the barracks, you knew everyone would be joining the Survey Corps. You would rather die than be associated with the corrupted monsters of the military police and you made your hatred of them known to your friends, however, you couldn’t help but feel jealous of their ‘mostly’ noble pursuits. Aside from Oluo wanting to be ‘humanity’s next hero’, of which Petra gave him an endless hard time for, your friends were good people who genuinely wanted to fight for the freedom for humanity, while you were looking for a reason to wash away your sins.

Commander Erwin walked onto the stage, all the recruits quieting down and saluting. He began his speech which admittedly, you zoned out on. You guessed it must have been terrifying and threatening as you saw the look of horror on the cadets around you, and picked up on the “Most of you will die” part. As he finished speaking, a stampede of cadets ran off to sign up for the Garrison and the select few who had scored high enough for the Military Police had already skipped off.

You looked around the field, not many people were left, aside from your friends and yourself, only a handful remained.

Erwin looked pleased. While the numbers were low, six out of ten of the top recruits would be joining the Survey Corps. He glanced back at Levi, the two of them silently communicating. Levi sighed in resignation as he understood what Erwin had told him beforehand, “Keep an eye on her”.

After the ceremony, your group had split up to take a breather. You began looking for anyone you recognized when you saw Petra pushed up against a wall surrounded by Hitch and her goons. Hitch was an annoyingly vain girl who had also made the top ten. Her desire to join the military police and snatch a rich husband pissed you off to no end. Her moral compass pointed south to your north and it was no surprise every time you were near each other you fought like cats and dogs.

What annoyed you even more was when people picked on those they perceived to be weaker in order to display a false sense of strength, which was exactly what Hitch was doing to Petra. As you stalked closer to them you heard Hitch say, “Tell me, who’d you have to sleep with to get into top ten Petra? I’ve seen you fight and you’re way too clueless to have any brains up in that cute head of yours”.

“If anyone should be accused of sleeping their way to the top it’s you Hitch”, you growled from behind her.

Hitch turned to face you and glare with her arms crossed around her chest, “What’s it to you Mina? You know, if you weren’t such a nasty bitch maybe you would be able to get a man!”

You rolled your eyes at her attempt at an insult, “I’m not surprised that a ‘nasty bitch’ like you only thinks about getting a man! Worried you have no talent to make it on your own?”, you mocked.

Hitch turned towards the guy next to her, “Marlowe, do something!” Marlowe approached you, he towered above you. Starting to feel you lose control, you were entering your fight or flight state, the survival instincts you tried to keep suppressed every day in order to avoid going berserk ever again. Petra could see it happen as she saw the deadly glint that started to appear in your eyes. 

Petra realized this was a thing after multiple training sessions, where even after your opponent tapped out you would keep going and have to have Eld or Gunther physically restrain you before you came back to your senses.

“Mina stop! It’s not worth it, let’s go back and find everyone!” Luckily, her words snapped you back to reality, at that moment Marlowe tackled you, you managed to dodge at the last second. 

You pulled him close to you by his collar, pressing your chest close against his. You heard his breath hitch in surprise, ‘gross’ you thought to yourself. Wrapping one leg around his, you used his own weight to throw him onto the ground, his head hitting the dirt. 

“Marlowe!”, Hitch screamed, “That’s it! I’m gonna kick your ass for good, Reader!” 

You rolled up your sleeves, more than ready to finally end your ‘rivalry’ with Hitch. As you both began to charge at each other, you felt a hand grab the back of your head, clawing onto your hair, throwing you to the ground on your back.

You groaned in pain, expecting the perpetrator to be Eld breaking up another almost fight of yours and Hitch. 

“Fuck off Eld! I’m sick of her thinking she’s above everyone else!” At the sight of seeing Hitch widen her eyes in fear and run away with Marlowe you realized it couldn’t be Eld, she had never reacted that way towards you or Eld. You felt hair prick up on the back of your neck.

Reluctantly, you slowly craned your head back to see the exact face you dreaded to see. Captain Levi’s hand was still pulling your hair back, his enraged face and shrewd gray eyes glaring daggers into you. His expression made wolves look like newborn puppies. 

You could only gape at him in shock, “C-captain!”, you stammered. Levi pulled you up by the braid you tied your hair in, you winced at the pain. He growled into your ear, “You really are a wild animal huh? Expect to be trained like one Brat, I find pain to be the most effective punishment”, he threatened. Levi let go of your hair and walked back to the stage, presumably where Erwin was.

You were still frozen in fear, Petra coming up to softly shake you. “Mina, are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, I think so.” ‘What was that all about’, you thought to yourself. 

“There you guys are!”, Eld yelled, Gunther, Oluo, and Nifa in tow. “What happened?”

“Nothing, just Hitch being… y’know”, you said trying to ignore the threat from Captain Levi. You weren’t sure why but you were blushing, trying to ignore the double meaning Levi’s words had. Your heart was pounding rapidly from the sudden adrenaline and spike of fear. One thing was for sure, training in the Survey Corps would not be easy.


	4. The Danger Gets Me High

You knew training would be rough in the Survey Corps, but you had greatly underestimated whatever grudge Captain Levi had on you and apparently how much you had pissed him off. At first, you thought you were overthinking things but it really did seem like Levi was pushing you especially hard, much harder than any of the other cadets.

You had only taken a couple seconds in between combat training to stretch when his hawk-like vision honed in on you, “No breaks Reader! That’s another 50 pushups!”, Levi called.

Suppressing the urge to roll your eyes as you knew you didn’t want to get anymore punishments, you clenched your teeth and dropped to the ground to start your pushups. Your arms were starting to feel like noodles at this point, losing track of how many pushups, situps, and laps you had to endure before it even hit noon.

Two pristine combat boots showed up in your line of vision. Judging from how shiny they were, you instantly knew Levi was standing in front of you. 

“No more snarky remarks today? Looks like you can follow instructions after all, too bad I was almost expecting you to put up more of a fight”, Levi said. 

You bit your lip to keep from saying something stupid and glared down so hard at the dirt beneath you that it could have burned holes into the ground. You didn’t even have to look up to know he was smirking at you, you could feel the heat of his stare on you. Finally, his attention shifted to another unruly cadet.

You took this chance to relax a bit and finished up the rest of your punishment at a leisurely pace. Once you were done, you got up and brushed the dust off your pants, ‘whose idea was it to make the uniform pants white anyways?’, you thought to yourself.

You met up with the rest of your friends who were taking a break at the side of the field. “Hey no fair! How come you guys get to take a break?”, you whined playfully.

Nifa rolled her eyes at you, “Maybe since we don’t try to provoke the captain every chance we get?”, she replied sarcastically. “I personally think it’ll do you some good, finally learn some discipline brat”, Oluo quipped.

Petra turned towards him, “Are you trying to impersonate the captain? Because you sound nothing like him”, she said irritated. “I’d prefer it to the real thing anyday”, you grumbled under your breath.

“Break over shitty brats!”, Levi called out from the front of the field. You headed back and took your place standing in front of the guy assigned to be your fighting partner for the day. He was a hulking man, towering over you, anyone besides you would have been visibly intimidated. Your eyebrow twitched in irritation and you couldn’t help but think Levi had conspired this uneven match as you looked around and saw the other pairs being of similar weight and height divisions.

It was no matter to you though, since your fighting style had been based on fighting larger opponents anyways. Putting your fists up in front of your face, you would prove those conspiring assholes wrong, if they didn’t think you were up for a challenge.

“Ready to get your ass kicked?”, you asked the man in front of you, raising an eyebrow. He laughed in your face, “I’d like to see your try, don’t worry girly I’ll go easy on you”, he taunted.

You charged yourself into his legs, making him lose his balance and topple over, “Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”, you yelled as you took advantage of his fall to wrap your legs around his head in a chokehold. He tried to reach back and throw you down, but you twisted away and shifted your legs back so now your arms were around his neck. Unfortunately, all the previous push ups were taking its toll on your body and you were losing strength in your arms, you weakened your hold slightly and that was when he managed to knock you onto the ground.

Red started to seep into the corners of your vision and you lifted your knee to kick him in the gut, he fell back and you scrambled to stomp your foot into his chest. The man screamed in pain, “Stop I can’t breathe! You win okay, stop!”

You were already too far gone, you continued wailing on him, feeling a pair of arms grab around your waist. “Mina, stop! The fight’s done, you won!”, Eld’s voice was trying to reason with you. Suddenly, you felt his arms disappear from your waist and you felt yourself getting lifted up like a ragdoll. 

Before you knew whoever was holding you dropped you, and you fell on your ass onto the ground. Glaring upwards, you realized that Levi had forcibly lifted you and thrown you down. “What’s your issue Brat!”, Levi said menacingly in more of a statement than a question.

“I could ask you the same thing Captain!”, you replied mockingly, “You’ve been picking on me all day for no good reason! If you want to fight me so badly yourself, just do it!”

He narrowed his eyes at you, “You’re going to regret saying that you shitty kid, when I’m done with you, you won’t even have the chance to beg for mercy.”

In your stupid violent haze, you tried to get a hit on Levi which he dodged with ease. He made a move to grab you, which in your stupor you somehow had managed to dodge as well. Levi’s eyes widened slightly in surprise for a nano-second before he gritted his teeth and both his hands grabbed at your collar lifting you from the ground. 

Your eyes widened in horror, feeling yourself get choked out. You desperately tried to remain conscious, starting to feel your eyes roll back, not wanting to give Levi the satisfaction. With your remaining strength, you wrapped your hands around the wrist that was grabbing you and clawed your nails in as hard as you could.

Levi looked down and noticed that a bit of skin on his hand began to break blood. He released you in surprise, rubbing the skin on the back of his hand.

You fell harshly back onto the ground, sputtering and coughing, trying to regain your breath. Your chest was heaving and you grabbed your own chest, feeling the adrenaline in your body get replaced with exhaustion. 

“Mina!”, Eld yelled in concern and ran towards you, putting an arm around your shoulder to try and help you up. 

“Training is done for the day!”, Levi announced, the other cadets saluting at him. He ignored them and walked back to headquarters, but yelled something as he left, shocking you.

“Reader! My office at 7, don’t be late!”

To everyone else watching it was clear that Levi had won and kicked your ass, but to Levi, he considered your impromptu scrap a draw, something that had surprised and impressed him. Although, he would never admit that to you.

“Ow”, you winced in pain as Petra iced your head. She shook her head at you, “Why do you always have to get yourself into trouble?” You shrugged trying to look like you hadn’t gotten your ass handed to you. You definitely had better days. “Ooh, look at what the cat dragged in”, Oluo teased, sliding into the seat next to Petra.

“Shut it Oluo, haven’t I been punished enough?”

“Clearly not”, Eld replied, “considering Captain Levi’s probably going to chew you out in his office.”

You sighed and tried to mentally prepare yourself, you had no idea what he was going to say to you or how he was going to react to the fact that you tried to fight you superior officer. “Whatever, I gotta go get ready, I’m not going to give him another reason to be pissed at me”, you sighed dejectedly as you got up to leave the dining hall.

You were pacing around the hallways, trying to calm your nerves before you had to go visit Levi’s office. You were so absorbed in your thoughts you didn’t even notice two people approach you. You felt someone’s head near your hair, you flinched and looked back in shock. A tall blonde man with shaggy hair and a goatee was sniffing your hair. You instantly recognized him as squad leader Mike. 

The woman wearing goggles next to him put an arm around your shoulder, “Sorry we scared you! Don’t mind Mike, that’s just a thing he does when he meets new people”. Mike inhaled another sniff then nodded in approval at whatever he smelled on you. You saluted, “Squad leader Hange! Squad leader Mike!”

Hange dropped her arm that was around you, “No need to be so formal! You’re the girl that was picking a fight with Shorty right?”, Hange asked grinning, leaning in uncomfortably close towards you like she was sharing a secret. You grimaced in response, “Yeah, guess that’s me.” 

She burst into maniacal laughter, “You should've seen Levi’s face afterwards, I’ve never seen anyone get so under his skin!” You internally cussed at yourself, ‘just great, so I’m probably on the top of his hit list now’. Hange’s laughter trailed off, “Anyways we saw you and figured since you’re going to see Captain Shorty anyways, could you drop these reports off for us?” 

“Of course!”, you saluted at them as they turned to walk back the other way after handing you a stack of papers. “By the way”, Mike turned back to look at you with pity, “Levi likes tea.”

“T-thank you Sir!” You took this as some advice to hopefully get Levi in a better mood and get less of a scolding. You scurried off to the kitchen clutching the reports under one arm, and brewing some black tea in a teapot. It had been a while since you had done domestic chores, but you still remembered when you used to help your mom around the kitchen as a child. You found the process to be relaxing and wondered why you hadn’t thought of doing this before, probably trying to avoid any memories related to your life before you became an assassin.

You had managed to balance everything onto one tray and walked towards Levi’s office. It was fairly isolated at the end of a hallway. You shuffled trying to adjust everything you were holding to knock, but Levi was a step ahead of you.

He suddenly opened the door to his office, you saw the surprised expression on his face before he quickly shifted back to his regular stoic resting face. “I-I ran into Hange and Mike”, you stammered looking down at the reports you were holding trying to explain yourself.

Levi cut you off, “Leave it on the desk”, he opened the door wider and gestured to let you in. You put the tray and reports down on his desk as he closed his office door. Levi walked towards the desk raising an eyebrow at the tea, ‘Hmm interesting’, he poured himself a cup and walked to sit on the leather couch in his office.

“You going to keep standing there like an idiot or sit down?” You blushed against your will and looked around his office panickedly, the place was freakishly clean. You cautiously took a seat on the couch that Levi was sitting on, keeping as far a distance you could, almost leaning onto the armrest. You noticed the unique way he held his cup, long graceful fingers gripping the top of the teacup, one arm casually resting on the back of the couch, legs crossed. You hated to admit it but he really was a beautiful man.

Levi took a sip from the cup, letting out a hum of approval. “Looks like you’re good for something, brat. Someone teach you how to make good tea?” he asked, turning his head to look at you inquisitively.

“Yes sir, my mother taught me.” “I see, you should be grateful for her, and when we’re in my office you can just call me Levi.” You glanced at him surprised, trying to think if this was some sort of trap. “O-okay… Levi.”

Levi leaned his head slightly back onto the couch, “So the reason I called you here is that you will be having private training sessions with me.” 

Your mouth gaped open in surprise. He rolled his eyes at you, “Don’t get carried away kid, you’re strong but have no discipline”, Levi continued, his lips quirking up into a smirk, “Besides, I’m the only captain who could tame a brat like you. If you try to pull the shit you tried today again, I will not hesitate to end you”, his small praise quickly transformed into a threat, a terrifying glint lighting up his gray eyes.

Feeling fear prick at you again, you nodded before he could change his mind, “I understand Captai- I mean Levi”. While you were weary of spending alone time with Levi, he was humanity’s best soldier and you were grateful that your own skills had been good enough for him to see potential in you.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why me?” He glanced at you, his expression seeming deep in thought, “Hmm there’s something interesting about you. But don’t think that means I’ll treat you special.” You grimaced, if his torturous training towards you today was how he treated everyone else, you didn’t want him to give you special treatment either. “Wouldn’t dream of it Levi.”


	5. Can't Help Myself

“Oi Cadet! Are you fucking deaf?”, Levi yelled from below. You had perched yourself onto a tree branch, narrowly escaping being mushed onto the side of the tree trunk like a flattened pancake.

‘I’m going to end up deaf if you keep yelling at me’, you grumbled to yourself. “I told you to pull your centre of gravity forward when you make turns idiot!”, Levi continued.

“Sorry Captain”, you said dryly as Levi used his gear to land next to you. He whacked the back of your head, “You won’t be able to apologize when you practically serve yourself up as titan food”, he growled, glaring daggers into you.

You rubbed the now tender spot in the back of your head, glaring back at Levi. He rolled his eyes at your feeble attempt. 

“You’re hopeless brat”, he held out one of his hands, “Here.”

You looked at him with surprise, “W-what are you doing?”, staring at him as if he was an alien.

Levi rolled his eyes at you again, “Get on my back brat. You clearly can’t understand verbal instructions so I will just have to show you myself.”

Before you could respond he tossed you onto his back as if you were a ragdoll and hooked his gear onto a higher branch. Instinctually, you wrapped your arms around his neck and legs around his waist. You clung onto Levi as he continued maneuvering around the deep forest with ease. His body radiated more heat than you thought it would, your chest was pressed tightly against his back, making your face flush. 

“Pay attention to my movements on this turn”, Levi called back. Although you hated to admit it, the Captain was unnaturally graceful, it was as though he was flying. As the wind zipped past you, feeling the cold air on your cheeks you pressed your face into the back of Levi’s neck. ‘He smells really good, as expected from a neat freak like him’, you thought, as you picked up a hint of fresh pine smell. 

You realized that you had just been sniffing the back of Levi’s neck like a freak, and quickly pulled your head back, blush spreading across your face. With a horrified expression, you were lucky that you couldn’t see his face. His steps slightly faltered for a split second before he gracefully landed back onto the ground again. 

Practically jumping off of Levi, you prayed that the flush on your face was just from the breeze. Levi straightened his clothes out and stared into you. “I’m not training you anymore.”

Your mouth gaped open, “What? Why?”

“It’s a waste of my time, I’m not going to bother training you if you’re just going to become titan fodder.”

You clenched your hands into fists, “You know I’m good Captain Levi! I’m taking this seriously, are you afraid I’ll surpass humanity’s greatest warrior,” you said mockingly. 

Instantly regretting your words as it seemed to strike a chord within Levi. His eyes narrowed into cat-like slits, he pressed his face dangerously close to you, to the point where the tips of your noses were touching. 

“6 months. Stable duty Brat”, the low and even tone in his voice was more terrifying than anything you were expecting. His eyes were locked onto you like a predator, forcing you to stare back at him with nothing else in your field of vision.

“Yes Sir”, you whispered, unable to raise your voice any louder out of fear.

Levi pulled back and involuntarily licked his lips, “one more chance Cadet. If I don’t see improvement at our next session, I’m dropping you”, he stated. You could only nod in response.

\------------------------------

“Aaaggggh!”, you yelled in frustration slamming your head on the table in the dining hall.

“Careful Mina, don’t want you to lose the few brain cells you have left”, Oluo smirked.

“Shut it Oluo”, you lifted your head up just enough to glare at the over-confident man. Eld rested his chin on top of your head, “Yeah Oluo, if I don’t recall aren’t you also on stable duty?”

Gunther looked up from his plate in surprise, “Really? What’d you do now?” Before Oluo could respond, Petra slapped her hand onto his mouth, “This moron was caught doing his awful impression of Captain Levi again.”

“It’s not an impression, dear Petra”, Oluo mumbled through Petra’s hand. She rolled her eyes and wiped her hand on a napkin with a look of disgust. 

You shoved Eld’s head off of you, he pouted at you, “I’m jealous Mina, you managed to get one on one training with the Captain and you’re already going to mess it up?” 

“Don’t remind me Eld, I don’t know what I’m going to do”, you groaned. 

“Why don’t you ask for help from another officer?” Nifa suggested. Eld snorted, “You know how friendly our little fire-cat is, who could she even ask?”

“Hey! I can be perfectly friendly!”, you said in offense. Your friends all looked at you with blank expressions on their faces. You hit your head onto the dining table again, “I hate all of you!”

“Ah and there’s our Mina again”, Eld teased.

“Whatever, I’m done eating anyways, I’ll take my friendly ass elsewhere”, you grumbled, taking your tray and leaving the dining hall. ‘Ask another officer? Eld’s right though, who would I even ask, I barely know anyone here’, you thought to yourself.

You were pacing the halls lost in thought, unguarded and unable to notice the tall woman in goggles who was head deep in reports. The air was knocked out of you as you fell onto the ground, snapping out of your revelry, you saw Hange frantically gathering the papers that went flying as a result of your collision.

“Hange! I’m so sorry I should’ve seen you coming!”, you apologized and bent down to help collect all the loose papers. It seemed as though Hange didn’t even hear you as she kept mumbling to herself.

You finished picking up a stack from the floor and gently placed your hand on her shoulder. “Uhh Hange? Here’s the rest of your reports, sorry again.”

Hange’s snapped up in surprise, just noticing your presence. ‘What a scary woman…’ It didn’t even seem like Hange knew she had ran into someone.

Her eyes lit up in recognition, “Ahh Reader! It’s you!”

“Yeah Hange, sorry about all this, what are these reports about anyways?” Hange gasped and grabbed one of your hands. “You’re actually interested?! Sweet girl! I’ll show you come on!”

You regretted asking Hange as she dragged you down the hall in a vice grip, stronger than she looked. Then you remember Nifa’s advice and a cheshire grin lit up your face, the perfect opportunity just fell into your lap. You just had to put up with whatever Hange had in store.

She dragged you into her lab, slamming the reports onto a table spreading the sheets out. “You see these are my plans to capture a titan!”, Hange exclaimed in excitement, almost frothing at the mouth.

You looked at all the papers filled with calculations, equations, and words you didn’t understand and saw intricate diagrams of titan physiology along with designs of the ODM gear. 

“You’re going to capture a titan? I thought we were killing them.” Hange tsked at you, “What a close-minded way of thinking, afterall, to know thy enemy is to know thyself.”

“Umm Hange I don’t think that quote applies in this situation.” She twirled around completely ignoring your statement, “We are going to do what no one else has done before, after we capture the titans just think of all the knowledge humanity can gain!”

Hange proceeded to ramble on about titans and her plan on going about capturing a couple for what felt like hours. Looking out the small window and seeing the last bit of sunlight die out, it likely was hours. 

You felt your eyes lull and had to keep awake, although you only understood half of what Hange was rambling about her excited expressions and gestures kept you just interested enough. 

When Hange took a slight pause to catch her breath, you saw your chance to strike. “Wow Hange! But there’s no way you can do this on your own right?”

She sighed and leaned dejectedly on the table, a complete 180 from her previous behaviour. “I tried to get Levi to help me but he refused, none of the other officers are willing to volunteer, and Erwin completely ignores me when I try to explain my plan!”

Your eye twitched in annoyance, ‘He’d probably hear you out if you kept your explanation under 4 hours’, you thought to yourself. Suddenly a stroke of genius hit you, or rather more a stroke of madness.

“Say Hange, I’d love to help you! For the sake of humanity of course! I know some other cadets that would be interested too, and we’re all capable and graduated within the top ten of the training corps!” 

Hange bounded towards you and threw herself into you, hugging so tightly you were losing air. “Reader! I knew I saw something in you! A fellow woman of science!”, she yelled gleefully. 

You tried pushing yourself out of her arms. Continuing the charade, you sighed dejectedly, “I would love to help but if I don’t improve at my next training session with Captain Levi, I’ll probably get kicked out of the military all together.”

Hange dropped to her knees, her sliver of hope dashed again. Suddenly she hopped back up and wrapped her hands around yours. “I know! I can help you improve, what do you need help with Reader?”

‘Hook, line, and sinker’, you smirked to yourself. 

“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to say out loud but I’m having trouble with my ODM gear, I keep losing my balance.”

Hange nodded, “I see, alright then wait here”, she headed in the back room and you heard sounds of her rummaging around. She came out holding measuring tape and a scale. You looked at her in confusion.

Hange had taken your measurements and drew a rough sketch of you. “Alright Reader, get into this gear.” You followed her instructions, where Hange proceeded to scribble on the sketch.

“Describe the build of the person you learned how to use the gear from.”

“Muscular, tall probably over 6”, broad”

“Hmm just as I thought. The way that a larger person uses the gear is different from how you would. I’m sure you would’ve noticed but the techniques that Levi would use differs drastically from someone like Erwin.”

You nodded, realization hitting you. This is what Levi had tried to show you, you had been fighting against your natural instincts and instead were following the training of someone that had a complete opposite build than you.

Hange handed you the sketch, scribbles and arrows pointing to different areas with how you should be moving your body to effectively use the gear. “Try this out, you should find this will be suited perfectly for you.”

“Thank you Hange!”

“Oh no Reader, I should thank you,” her glasses glinted with reflecting light, “afterall, you’re the one putting your life on the line.”

You gulped, remembering your claim to help Hange capture a titan. You’ve never even seen a titan in person. Pushing the thought to the back of your mind, you would cross that bridge when you came to it. For now, your immediate survival was to pass Levi’s training.

You snuck outside, running into the forest that surrounded Survey Corps headquarters. You took another look at the diagram Hange made for you, rolling the paper back up and shoving it in your boots. 

Grappling onto a branch high above, you lifted yourself up and began flying through the forest. The brief pockets of moonlight provided just enough light for you to be able to see. Soon you began flying, the wind whipped past you and your hair whipped around wildly in the wind. You couldn’t contain the smile that spread on your face, for the first time in a long time, you felt free.

Thanks to Hange’s advice, you were almost as graceful as Levi, propelling yourself off of the large tree trunks and dodging any obstacles with ease. You dropped back onto the ground, looking up at the star-filled sky with a huge smile on your face. This view was something you had been deprived of for years in the underground. 

You continued to gaze into the sky with amazement before feeling a chill run down your spine. You recognized the feeling of being watched. Narrowing your eyes to focus in the dark, you stalked towards the clearing where you felt a presence.

The last person you had suspected, Levi revealed himself from behind one of the many giant tree trunks. He held his hands up in mock surrender, “Not bad for a brat.”

He continued, “Although you seem to have a habit of sneaking out of the barracks. Are you going to use the excuse that you need to shit in the woods again”, he taunted, recalling your cursed first meeting.

You visibly cringed at this, hoping that he had forgotten but he clearly had not. 

“No excuses Captain, just wanted to get some extra practice in.”

He raised an eyebrow inquisitively, “You’re lucky that I was the one in charge of patrol tonight. Besides, from what I saw tonight your improvement speed was record-breaking, it almost cancels out the punishment for you sneaking out.”

You crossed your arms and grimaced. Cleaning the stables was bad enough, it was even worse that the other person stuck on stable duty was Oluo. 

“We’ll discuss that another time. I’ll walk you back, don’t want you getting… lost again”, Levi said smirking at you. You huffed in frustration, Levi would never let you live it down, your embarrassing first encounter.

However, it seemed you caught Levi in a good mood, as you walked back to Headquarters, he was more talkative than usual.

“You’re angry”, he stated plainly. You looked at him in confusion, determining that he wasn’t trying to rile you up, saying it matter-of-factly. 

“No I’m not”

Levi stopped and turned to face you, you doing the same. His gaze was deep, you dreaded eye contact with him as you felt naked under him. 

“I can tell, I can feel the rage burning in you. That look in your eye, I know it all too well”, he said cryptically.

You opened your mouth to respond but unsure of how to reply, closed it dumbly.

“I don’t know you or what you’ve been through brat, but take it from me. Use that anger as fuel, control it, make it a part of you. Otherwise, you’ll just lose yourself in it.” Levi continued walking again, leaving you behind.

You stared after him, trying to process what he had just told you. You hadn’t even realized but you were already back at headquarters. Heading back inside, you stared at Levi’s retreating figure, with more questions than answers.


End file.
